Possessives/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, and a robot, Moby, are dressed as cowboys. They are having a showdown on the main street of an old western town. TIM: This is my town, robot. And it ain't big enough for the two of us. MOBY: Beep. Dramatic western music plays as each prepares to draw. The town clock strikes noon, and they pull out their water pistols. Tim's water pistol does not fire, and Moby soaks Tim. TIM: Whatevs. It's still my town. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, What are possessives? Thanks, Tidus. In grammar, possessives are words and phrases that indicate possession. In other words, that something belongs to something else. Take possessive nouns. A possessive noun is a special version of a regular noun. It tells us that something belongs to someone, or something. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, to turn a regular noun into a possessive noun, you have to add a little extra something. For singular nouns, it's usually an apostrophe followed by an s. Text reads: apostrophe, s. TIM: Let's just pretend for a second that this town belongs to Moby. Tim imagines Moby as the sheriff of the western town they are in. Moby holds a sign that reads: This is Moby's town! TIM: To indicate Moby's possession of the town, I add an apostrophe "s" to Moby. The apostrophe and the s are highlighted on the sign Moby is holding. TIM: But doing that is not a universal rule! For example, what happens when the noun you want to turn into a possessive already ends with an "s"? Text shows these examples of the kind of noun Tim is describing: Dickens, Carlos, gas, octopus. TIM: Or what if the noun ends in a double "s"? Text shows these examples: business, boss. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Unfortunately, the answer isn't cut and dried. Some people like to put an apostrophe "s" at the end. Text now reads: Dickens's, Carlos's, gas's, octopus's, business's, boss's. TIM: And others prefer to just add an apostrophe after that final "s." The final "s" drops from each of the words. Text now reads: Dickens', Carlos', gas', octopus', business', boss'. TIM: The same rule applies when you're dealing with nouns that end in a silent "s," like Arkansas and Illinois. An image shows a map of the forty-eight contiguous United States. The states Tim mentions are highlighted. Text reads: Arkansas, Illinois. TIM: Some people add an apostrophe "s," and others just tack on an apostrophe. Additional text reads: Arkansas', Illinois', Arkansas's, Illinois's. TIM: It's one of those rare times in grammar when two different answers are both correct. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Nope. Plural nouns are a different story. As you know, most plural nouns already end in "s." Images show a pair of dogs, several berries, and three hats. Text labels the images: dogs, berries, hats. TIM: When you've got a plural noun, you just add an apostrophe to the end of the word, never an apostrophe "s." Text now reads: dogs', berries', hats'. TIM: So, the dogs' bones are in Fred's hands. An animation shows a cowboy dangling two dog biscuits over the dogs shown earlier. Text reads: The dogs' bones are in Fred's hands. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Huh, I didn't even think of that. For nouns that have irregular plural forms, like how mice is the plural of mouse, go with the original apostrophe "s" rule. Text reads: women's, mice's, children's. TIM: And some nouns don't change at all when they're pluralized, like deer and moose can refer to one animal, or many animals. Images show a single deer and a group of deer. Both images are labeled: deer. Additional images show a single moose and a group of moose. Both of those images are labeled: moose. Moby reaches into the image of the group of moose. He grabs one of them. It turns out to be a cookie. Moby puts it in his mouth and chews. TIM: Hey, save some of those for me! MOBY: Beep. Moby shakes his head. Tim sighs. TIM: Anyway, in this case, you add an apostrophe "s" whether you're talking about one deer or a whole herd of them. Text now reads: deer's, moose's. TIM: That was a good catch, Moby. MOBY: Beep. Western music plays and Moby does a victory dance. TIM: Hold your horses, partner. There's one other thing I need to tell you about possessives. Possessive pronouns are special versions of regular pronouns like I, you, and she. Text reads: I, you, we, they, she, he, it. TIM: But unlike nouns, they don't require any additional letters or apostrophes to show that something belongs to them. Instead, every pronoun has its very own, one-of-a-kind, possessive form. Text now reads: I/my, you/your, we/our, they/their, she/her, he/his, it/its. TIM: Since I own this town, it's also my town. It's mine, you hear? Text above Tim and Moby reads: I own this town. It's my town. It's mine. The words I, my, and mine highlight as Tim says them. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Uh, that’s, that's true. Sometimes using "of" works better than the possessive, especially in poetry and literature. For example, the lyric, "the land of the free and the home of the brave" wouldn't sound right as the free's land and the brave's home. An animation shows fireworks in a night sky. Text reads: the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Additional text reads: the free's land and the brave's home. TIM: And Wrath's Grapes wouldn't be as catchy as The Grapes of Wrath. An image shows a hardcover book titled Wrath's Grapes. TIM: It's really a judgment call. Depending on the context, you have to decide when that "of" construction sounds better. Tim looks around. TIM: Uh, Moby? MOBY: Beep. Tim looks up. Moby is standing above the entrance of a saloon, next to a sign. The sign originally read Moby's Saloon, but Moby has painted text on the sign. The text reads: The Saloon of Moby. TIM: You think that sounds better? Man, you really have a tin ear. Moby winks. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts